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All Out is less than a week away and it's time to take a look at our daily news roundup from the world of AEW.
On this edition, we take a look at details of a conversation between Jon Moxley and Tony Khan which convinced the former WWE star to sign with All Elite Wrestling. We also look at why the company was not interested in signing Brock Lesnar and a whole lot more.
#5 Tony Khan on convincing Jon Moxley to sign with AEW
On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Tony Khan was interviewed by Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales. During the interview, he was asked about Jon Moxley and if him signing with AEW early on in the promotion's lifespan would be a part of his wrestling legacy.
Khan replied that Moxley was definitely a future Hall of Famer and explained how a conversation in the latter's kitchen helped convince the former Dean Ambrose to sign with AEW:
"I definitely think he's a Hall of Famer and I definitely think that will be the moment people look at as a major transition. It's a huge free agency jump and you just look at the name change - that's when he became Jon Moxley again. Dean Ambrose had an amazing run and that's a huge part of his storybook legacy, that Dean Ambrose was a world champion, Dean Ambrose wrestled 200 times in a year as a headliner and hit all the house shows and was an iron man and then wrestling changed a lot and became more of a TV driven business and he was ahead of it."
"I sat there in his kitchen and talked to him about how the days of the 200 matches a year are over. It doesn't make sense to do that to your body anymore, it's amazing you did it, it's a legacy but wrestling is changing and this all made a lot of sense to Jon, and that it's a TV business now and the kind of money that's going out for TV contracts, we can build a TV franchise and our show will command real money that I'll be able to build this company around. He took that gamble and it worked," said Tony Khan.
Jon Moxley is a former AEW World Champion. He is currently set to face Japanese wrestling legend Satoshi Kojima at All Out.
#4 Why AEW wasn't interested in signing Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar made his WWE return at SummerSlam, coming out at the end of the main event to confront Roman Reigns who had just retained the Universal Championship after vanquishing John Cena. After the show went off the air, he also destroyed Cena.
In a recent report on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed why AEW were never interested in bringing in Lesnar. He stated that the price was just going to be too high, especially when you compare it to the number of dates.
Meltzer added that Brock Lesnar was brought back by WWE mainly to counter CM Punk's All Elite Wrestling debut rather than to try and keep The Beast Incarnate from the clutches of Tony Khan's promotion:
"As always, Lesnar's timing got him an even better deal. While as best we can tell there was nothing to AEW wanting him because the money to get him would be so high, one story has it that Vince McMahon didn't know that, but it appears it wasn't so much McMahon or FOX fearing his going to AEW as much as needing a big news story for the weekend as a counter. Lesnar was virtually certain to come back for the program with Reigns, but that was considered for months later (if Rock didn't do WrestleMania in 2022) or years later (if he did)," said Dave Meltzer.
AEW is expected to make more signings following CM Punk's debut, including that of Daniel Bryan who could debut as soon as All Out. More on that HERE.
#3 AEW star Shawn Spears hits back at a fan
A fan on social media recently accused AEW of making the same mistakes as WWE and "burying" talent. However, Shawn Spears hit back and said that unlike Vince McMahon's promotion, All Elite Wrestling listens to fans.
He acknowledged that a promotion can't make every fan happy before saying that the fan in question didn't know what "burying" a wrestler actually means:
"AEW listens. We are growing and the audience is our first priority. In that, we recognize we can’t make everyone happy. You don’t know what “burying” talent means. Wrestlers win and they lose. Hero Vs. Villian. Bad guys lose more. Its Entertainment," tweeted Shawn Spears.
#2 Jim Ross hits back at reports on his future
There were rumors doing the rounds a couple of days ago that Jim Ross could be stepping down from full-time commentary duties. However, the rumors were laid to rest by Ross himself, who took to Twitter to squash it. JR unequivocally denied the report, saying that it was "news" to him.
Jim Ross has done a fantastic job on commentary in AEW, despite the occasional snafu, and we hope he stays in the position for as long as possible.
#1 Details on what convinced CM Punk to finally sign with AEW
During his interview with Wrestling Observer Radio earlier this week, Tony Khan also revealed what finally convinced CM Punk to sign with AEW. He revealed that Punk didn't want to make his return to pro wrestling with a promotion that was in the start-up phase, something All Elite Wrestling is not anymore.
Khan also added that AEW's TV extension deal with Warner also played a part in convincing him that the company was here for the long run:
"A few years ago, it just wasn't the right time and I think he wanted to see how this thing went. He wasn't ready to go back to wresting, especially not for a start-up company, and now we're long past the start-up phase. It's been really successful, we signed a big TV extension and I think once we got the extension and it looked like we'll be in place for a while it made the company look a lot more like a stable option for CM Punk," said Tony Khan. H/T: Sportskeeda
CM Punk is set to make his in-ring debut for at All Out, where he will face homegrown star Darby Allin.
